The PN’s parliamentary benches may very well have a different look by the end of the weekend, with early indications showing that a number of the party’s new candidates are out-performing some of their more established colleagues.

Sources following proceedings in the counting hall have told The Malta Independent of a number of interesting battles developing on various electoral districts, prefacing this by saying that these are still very early indications, and that scenarios may change when vote inheritance is taken into consideration.

One of the biggest surprises has been in Gozo where it appears that new candidate Alex Borg is on course to achieve a higher tally of first count votes than party veteran Chris Said. 

Word around the corridors is that Borg may even manage to achieve a higher number of first count votes than Clint Camilleri, who was Gozo Minister, partially owing to the notorious divisions that there can be between candidates on the sister island.

This being said, the Labour Party is still projecting to win a majority in Gozo, with Jo Etienne Abela joining Camilleri and Anton Refalo in Parliament.

Another district which has seen a new candidate rise significantly to the fore for the PN is the sixth district. 

Here, young candidate Jerome Caruana Cilia appears to have stolen a march on his fellow candidates, who include incumbent MP Ryan Callus.  Callus is still expected to be elected, but Caruana Cilia seems to be the leading candidate on the district.

Lawyer Joe Giglio meanwhile appears to have polled quite convincingly on both the 9^th and 10^th district, to the point that he is said to be leading both districts along with veteran Robert Arrigo.

There are other, closer contests, meanwhile.

Mark Anthony Sammut could make it to Parliament for the first time from his home district – the fourth district.  This is a district where the PN traditionally only manage to elect one candidate, and Sammut’s election could mean that established party candidates Jason Azzopardi and Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici miss out from here.  However, the contest is still far too close to call.

The same can be said on other districts, particularly the 11^th district, where new candidates Rebekah Cilia and Joseph Grech seemed to have polled well.  This district however depends significantly on how Bernard Grech’s votes are distributed after the first count.

One veteran candidate who appears to have done quite well is Beppe Fenech Adami.  Sources in the counting hall have said that Fenech Adami is in the lead on his home district – the 8^th district, and that he is set to beat former PN leader Adrian Delia to the top spot.

Delia is expected to be elected from here while the third seat, which is projected to go to the PN, is still hotly contested.

These are still, however, early indications: the number of votes sampled and counted is increasing, but these are things which can change quite quickly, depending on how votes from other candidates are re-distributed when they are knocked out of the running.